


An Unexpected Visitor

by mixthealphabet



Series: And It Grows [6]
Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-21
Updated: 2013-06-21
Packaged: 2017-12-15 16:50:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/851804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mixthealphabet/pseuds/mixthealphabet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tell her that I may keep a wall of trust issues, but she is the one who will have to deal with a whole lot of denseness if she still wants that happily ever after."</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Unexpected Visitor

_And do you still think love is a laserquest? Or do you take it all more seriously?_

There were few things about his guild mates that still surprised Gray Fullbuster.

After years of being a part of Fairy Tail and getting to know those people, the icemake mage had started to predict some of their actions, like how they would react to a certain chain of events or how their interactions would go.

Some he knew better than others. He had, after all, grown up with them by his side. Erza and Natsu had been present since the beginning, as annoying siblings who only served to make his life a little harder. Mira was another one that he'd gotten to know pretty well, with her two extreme sides and her unusual meddling (a characteristic shared with her little sister). Cana, Elfman, Gildarts, Laxus, Makarov… They were his family.

Fairy Tail, however, was anything but stagnant. As time went by, more and more people joined their ranks, adding up to the general wildness and lack of control that their guild was famous for.

Lucy Heartfilia came as an unexpected twist to their story.

She was much calmer than most of their mages, preferring to solve conflicts by discussion instead of her fists. Lucy was brains and looks, much like many of their female colleagues, but with a pacifist streak that detached her from the others. Without meaning to, the girl affected them all, giving them a new reason to reunite under the name of Fairy Tail.

The fire that had already been there, that mixed their difficult pasts and their need to make the world a better place, was only enlivened by her kindness.

Still, she wasn't far from what Gray had imagined her to be. Her "weirdness" – as Natsu would call it – was lessened when compared to Juvia's abnormal behavior and Gajeel's bipolarity.

No, what was most surprising about Lucy was the result of her friendship in Natsu.

The pink haired boy had always been incredibly attached to the guild, as it had come to be his home after Igneel disappeared. Being abandoned by his father made the dragon slayer cling to Fairy Tail as his safe heaven, to its people as his family, because, to put it simply, they really were all he had.

Rash and boisterous, Natsu was also wary of being left once again. Except for Happy – and maybe Lisanna, once upon a time –, he had never let himself get too close to anyone, for fear that losing someone else could make his universe collapse.

Which was why Gray had never expected Lucy and Natsu to become partners, much less best friends.

After their first missions, the icemake mage started to accompany them, curious about what had suddenly changed in his "almost brother but definite rival" to make him accept a newcomer so easily. He didn't find his answer, but, instead, made a really good friend and ended up with a really good team.

Just one of those not-what-you-wanted-but-what-you-needed situations.

It wasn't until late winter, about three months after Natsu's birthday party, that Gray finally understood.

As he'd done several times prior, the dark haired boy burst into Lucy's apartment, looking for a place to hide out for the afternoon; Juvia had been looking for him for some reason and, as much as he liked the mage, he remained unsure of how to respond to her advances. So Strawberry Street it had been.

Lucy was one of his best friends and, despite her temper, she was always open to talking and killing time, seeming to understand his "emotional barrier" – seriously, where did she get these terms from? – when it came to love. Differently from Erza, the blonde didn't push him into taking action, and Gray was thankful for the distraction she provided with her infinite list of complaints, gossip and intelligent remarks.

So, when he walked into her bedroom to find Natsu sprawled across her bed and no sign of Lucy, it was the first time in years when Gray felt completely baffled.

"Flame brain?" He inquired, his face contorting into a grimace of shock.

The dragon slayer sat up languidly, frowning at the nickname, before his eyes widened.

"Stripper?! What are you doing here?"

The pink haired idiot stared at him, confused, but without any real animosity in his eyes.

"I'm visiting a friend." Gray rolled his eyes, trying to resume his composure. "What about  _you_?" He crossed his arms over his chest, noticing that he'd somehow lost his shirt. "I don't see Lucy around."

Natsu blinked once, looking to the side in an obvious attempt to seem nonchalant.

"Lucy went shopping with Levy, she'll be back in an hour or so." The other mumbled, an expression in his face that made Gray falter.

"Are you – Are you pouting?!" Such an observation only served to make a light blush appear in his friend's cheeks, as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn't.

"What are you talking about, you damn ice bastard?" Natsu barked from his seat on Lucy's bed. "Put a shirt on!"

Ignoring the provocations, however, Gray approached the boy, analyzing him with a look of uncertainty.

"Cut the act, Natsu." He replied, surprising himself with the civility of his words. "Why are you here, if Lucy isn't? We both know that you would normally prefer the guild or even your house to this empty apartment."

The serious tone he had adopted made the other boy turn back to him, dark eyes shifting between his face and the ground. Natsu looked… sheepish?

"I've been crashing here."

His half assed explanation only created more questions in Gray's mind, and the icemake mage scrunched up his eyebrows, bringing a hand to his temple as if that information had truly messed up with his brain.

"For how long?" He pressed the subject, his voice portraying his perplexity.

Natsu scratched his neck, eyes full of innocence. Although his face showed only signs of cluelessness, Gray still remembered the pink that had adorned his cheeks moments earlier.

"Just the winter."

At this, something in the mage's mind snapped and he felt his surprise melt into understanding.

"It's almost spring." He muttered. "You're saying you've basically… moved in?"

Unaware of the things that were going on in his rival's thoughts, Natsu merely grinned, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yeah! I guess you're right!" The boy laughed. "Who would have guessed there was some rationality in that frozen head of yours?"

The insult registered, but Gray couldn't bring himself to care. Instead, he smirked, shaking his head at how much of an idiot that boy could be.

He had left his house and found a new home with Lucy, letting go of any possible fear of losing her. It was a pattern in his behavior towards the blonde, but it had never seemed clearer than at this moment. It wasn't a matter of getting close to others, but the realization that Natsu had actually allowed himself to build a life that wasn't just Fairy Tail. Afar from the guild, he had created a universe that was his.

No. Not only is.  _Theirs_.

Had the dragon slayer even noticed what he was doing? Living for something besides the missions and finding Igneel? And on that note, how long had it been since he'd actively searched for his father?

Natsu was changing in ways Gray couldn't have predicted, and it was all because of the wild card: Lucy.

Talking about cards, Cana had mentioned something like that, hadn't she? A fateful encounter, written on her cards, that would alter the celestial mage's life for good. But their friend had said that encounter had already happened, being the moment she'd met Natsu.

Maybe she was right. Maybe things had started to shift since that first day, taking them to where they were now. With a happy, but too naïve for his own good, Natsu Dragneel and a very cocky Gray Fullbuster.

"Do me a favor, will you, scaly idiot?" The icemake mage paused, amused by the situation. "Give Lucy a message when she gets back."

Natsu glared, eyeing the boy's smirk with distrust.

"What message?"

Gray walked to the door, stopping at the frame to glance back at the dragon slayer.

"Tell her that I may keep a wall of trust issues, but she is the one who will have to deal with a whole lot of denseness if she still wants that happily ever after."

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry for the wait!
> 
> The song is Love is a laserquest, by Arctic Monkeys.
> 
> I brought Gray into this part because I'm just crazy happy that he is alive!
> 
> To those who didn't understand his message: He is talking about how Lucy says he has an emotional barrier, but she will be the one having to break through a wall of denseness (Natsu).


End file.
